The technology has implications far and wide, but it's also something users can have fun with if they think outside the box.

Aug 29, 2022 At RFID Journal, we've written extensively about how radio frequency identification and other Internet of Things technologies offer vast applications in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, supply chain, logistics, transportation, aerospace, energy and many other sectors, including nuclear safety, mining, construction, undersea activities, animal tracking and more. There is no end to the uses for which RFID can be applied.

Every now and then, some unique and unexpected scenarios come along, and reporter Claire Swedberg alerted me to a recent article at the United Kingdom's Daily Mail news site (click here to read it), in which writer Jonathan Chadwick discussed some novel uses of connected technologies, including RFID. These range from a woman with a car key in her arm to a man tattooed with his store loyalty card to an implant for making penises vibrate (a phrase I never expected to utter in an RFID Journal editorial).

According to the article, Dean Mayhew, a London biohacker—a term referring to those who make life easier for themselves by altering their bodies via technology—grew tired of missing out on Tesco bargains due to his tendency to forget his card, and so he paid to have his wrist permanently inked with the card's QR code. Mayhew was not the first biohacker, however, and he's certainly not the last. Chadwick presented several other individuals who have had similar procedures performed as well, including:

These are but a sampling of the applications for which innovative minds (and other body parts) can employ technology-based solutions to improve the quality of daily life. Feel free to let us know if you have also biohacked yourself with RFID or other IoT technologies, or if you know of someone who has done so. What other unique and out-of-the-box uses are waiting to be discovered?  For those in the RFID space, the possibilities are fascinatingly endless—and for journalists, they're endlessly fascinating.

Rich Handley has been the managing editor of RFID Journal since 2005. Outside the RFID world, Rich has authored, edited or contributed to numerous books about pop culture. You can contact Rich via email.

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